The present invention relates in general to imaging systems, and more particularly to real time three-dimensional multiple display imaging systems displaying animated images from varying viewpoints.
As display screens have grown in size and fineness of resolution, investigators have experimented with placing several such display screens adjacent to each other and causing three dimensional graphical data to be displayed on them. In 1992, the University of Illinois introduced a multi-user, room-sized immersive environment called the Pyramid CAVE (for xe2x80x9cCAVE automatic virtual environmentxe2x80x9d). Three dimensional graphics were projected onto the walls and floors of a large cube composed of display screens, each typically measuring eight to ten feet. The cubic environment uses stereoscopic projection and spatialized sound to enhance immersion. Computers and display systems by Silicon Graphics, Inc. have created multi-panel displays which process three dimensional graphics, imaging and video data in real time. However, known xe2x80x9cCAVESxe2x80x9d and light displays by SGI and others share a single apex point of view, with all panels around the viewers having only perspective views streaming from that apex point. Further, much of the prior work requires shuttered or Polaroid glasses on the viewer for stereoscopic output. A need therefore continues to exist for multiple-display imaging systems permitting the imaging of three-dimensional scenes from multiple perspectives. Further, the treatment of animation graphics across multiple displays currently requires extremely high end, custom hardware and software and large bandwidth capability. The cost and communication requirements or rendering and displaying animation across multiple displays should be reduced.
According to one aspect of the invention, a multiple-display video system and method are provided by which a rendering image processor is coupled to a plurality of virtual cameras, which in one embodiment occupy separate nodes on a network. Associated with the rendering image processor is a first memory that defines a world having three dimensional spatial coordinates, a second memory for storing graphical image data for a plurality of objects, and a third memory for storing instructions on the positioning of the objects in the world. For each virtual camera, a viewpoint of the world is defined and stored. The rendering image processor renders a scene of the world according to the viewpoint of the virtual camera. Each virtual camera has at least one display associated with it to display the scene rendered according to the virtual camera""s viewpoint. The virtual camera viewpoints may be chosen to be different from each other.
According to a second aspect of the invention, a rendering node or server has first, second and third memories as above defined, the third memory storing instructions for positioning the objects in the virtual world and animating these objects. A plurality of clients, which are preferably disposed remotely from the server, each have associated memory and processing capability. Each of the clients has one or more display units associated with it, and viewpoints are established for each. Each of the clients stores, prior to a first time, graphical image data for the objects to be displayed. Each of the clients constructs a respective scene based on instructions received from the server at the first time. The previous storage of the graphical image data (such as textural and geometric data) associated with the animated objects dramatically reduces the amount of bandwidth necessary to communicate animation instructions from the server to each of the clients, permitting real-time animation effects across a large number of associated displays.
In a third aspect of the invention, these displays may be physically sited to be contiguous with each other so as to create a single large display. Relatedly, contiguous displays can be directed to display the scene or overlapping scenes and the viewpoints of the displays can be varied so that, to an observer passing by the displays, the rendered scene appears to shift as a function of the position of the observer, such as it would if the observer were looking at a real scene through a bank of windows. Other viewpoint shifts are possible to produce, e.g., arcuate or circumferential virtual camera arrays, of either convex or concave varieties.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a large multiple-screen animated array may be provided at a commercial location and used to display a combination of animations and text data derived from a local database. These data, such as the Flight Information Data System (FIDS) of an airline at an airport, can be used to display such things as airline arrivals and departures on predetermined portions of the displays. The present invention provides apparatus for producing an overlay of the FIDS data on the animated sequences.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention, the method and system of the invention may be used to illuminate large lenticular arrays to create an autostereoscopic display.